RE: Fair Use: Right or Defense (was: Asking Permission)

On Thu, 3 Oct 2002 12:15AM -0500, Tyler Ochoa wrote:
> I don't understand. How would the issue of "fair use" as a right come
> up in any context outside of an infringement claim? Besides, almost
> any
> defense can be characterized as a "right"; the real question is, does
> doing so have any significance? The only significance I see is
> rhetorical, which may be enough to make it worth arguing over, but it
> doesn't affect its day-to-day operation.

The only other possible forum for asserting a "Right to Fair Use" that I can think of is that Fair Use should allow someone to bypass DRM restrictions to make Fair Uses of copyrighted materials protected by such. If Fair Use is merely a defense and not an affirmative right, then such an argument would fail. I think this is the real context of the "Fair Use is only a defense" meme.

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